Promise CHC’s August baby boom sets month home-birth record

In total, certified nurse midwives Belinda Lassen and Pam Hulstein of Promise attended 12 home births during the baby boom. That was a one-month record for Promise. A third midwife also was on-call in case she was needed.

“August was just an incredible month,” Lassen said. “Thank you to all our families for entrusting your care to us.”

Here are some fun stats for the 12 babies:

Eight were girls; four were boys.

The 12 babies were born in 12 different towns. (Ironically, none of the births were in Sioux Center, IA, where Promise is located.)

Six babies were born in Iowa; six were born in South Dakota.

The distance from the farthest west hometown (Vermillion, SD) to the farthest east (Spirit Lake, IA) was 129 miles; the distance from the farthest north hometown (Baltic, SD) to the farthest south (Merrill, IA) was 95 miles.

Babies were born from the first day of the month to the third to last.

Promise Community Health Center's record 12home births for a month (August 2017) werein 12 different towns in two states.

Here is the tally of home births:

Aug. 1: Juniper – Orange City, IA.

Aug. 4: Lydia – Merrill, IA.

Aug. 9: Kenny – Vermillion, SD.

Aug. 14: Freya – Tea, SD.

Aug. 16: Alivia – Spirit Lake, IA.

Aug. 17: Jefferson – Sioux Falls, SD.

Aug. 17: Matea – Rock Valley, IA.

Aug. 18: Waverly – Harrisburg, SD.

Aug. 23: Ivan – Sanborn, IA.

Aug. 27: Olivia – Baltic, SD.

Aug. 29: Sawyer – Boyden, IA

The families were highly appreciative of the personal care that they received from their midwives and nurses.

“Alivia’s birth was an absolute dream,” Emily Lungren said. “It was so wonderful to labor, deliver and recover in our home. From the first appointment through the delivery and aftercare, Belinda has been absolutely wonderful. She is so special to our family.”